Spring Has Sprung!

Which... for us means... BUSY BEES AT WORK AND PLAY!!

VERY BUSY!!

Braeden started baseball at the end of February, Ella started dance at the beginning of March, and Lexi just had her first soccer game on the 2nd of April.  Whew!  And let's just say that trying to fit it all in with piano and school is... just CRAZY!  I don't know how it happened, but Lexi has soccer practice on the busiest day possible and I had already rearranged my piano schedule so that I could get Braeden to his games that day when her coach called to let me know.  I cried a little, and still have a little to figure out, but for the most part, I think it will all work out!  (I THINK!)
Oh... and on top of all that, I'm STILL trying to get Lexi and Ella's room makeover done!  They got a new bed and some new furniture.  Ella has finally graduated from the CRIB!!!!  YAAAAY!!  I know it's LONG overdue, but it was just a matter of time, money, motivation... etc.  They are now sharing a queen size bed and for the most part I think they are happy!  There will obviously come a day when Lexi will move on and have her own room, but for now they still share, which still leaves us with my craft room, aka. "The Grandma Room"!!  (Because that's where grandma's sleep when they come for a visit!)
So... we'll start in order... the beginning of the room makeover:  (Which still has a LONG way to go... but I'll post when it's all done so you can see!!  It's turning very... springy... I guess, would be the proper adjective!  Butterflies, spring colors... )

We had to move EVERYTHING OUT of their room to prepare for the new stuff to come in... and where does it end up??  ALL OVER my room!  Yikes...

And I mean... ALL OVER...  keep watching...

So glad this part of it is over and I have my room back to normal!!

First night in their new bed!!

New bedding!!  And happy to pose for a picture!  Silly girls!!

Love it... lots and lots of work (still to do), but LOVE IT!

Then... starting youngest to oldest for the extra-curricular activities:

Ella is ready to head out to her first dance class!  She's ACTUALLY excited and she STAYED and did well!  Yay!

The essentials:  ballet shoes and water!

Her teacher is Miss Maddy, (a girl in our ward who is an amazing dancer), and her classmates are some of her good friends!  Yay!

Shoes... always a problem.  Getting them tied, keeping them tied, keeping them on when they're tied, etc!

Warm-up jumping jacks!

And stretching with toes POINTED!

So wish I was little and limber!

This just makes me hurt to look at the picture!  No way can I do this now... and I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it when I was little either.  Love it!

Perfect 1st position!

Time for twirls!!!  Just what we really came for, you know!  It's not true dancing without a lot of twirls!!

Love it!!  She has so much fun there, and though I can't stay because I had to fit a piano lesson in due to some sad misfortunes on the part of my student's family, I know she has so much fun and I'm grateful for the chance she has to get away and do her very own thing!

Aren't they all just so cute??!!  They just crack me up!  We have 4 more weeks before their little "recital!"  It should be a good one!

Game ON!!

Great stop, Braeden!  He picked this up and stepped on 3rd for the "out"!  (They don't get out yet, but it was still a good play!)

Ready for another!

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!  Ella is PETTING and TOUCHING a DOG!!!!!!!  (She and Lexi borrowed Lexi's friend, Audrey's, puppy for a little while at the game.  Her brother is on Braeden's team so it works out just perfect!)  And yes, Ella is in her dance clothes... just because she wants to be!!  Lovely!  Good thing it was warm enough to get away with it!

John, Colleen, and SAmberie came for the game and dinner!  So much fun to have family there to cheer you on!  Braeden loves his fans!

But in truth, baseball games really are kind of boring... especially at this age, so it's always great when there's another source of entertainment on hand!!  Thanks, Ginger, for letting us maul you!

When Damian's around he goes out on the field wherever he is needed to help out.  Here he's the 3rd base coach!

"Ready, ready, ready, ready... ready to RUN!  All I'm ready to do is have some FUN!"

Oh, so very Braeden.  Stinker!  I know my kids get really sick of my snapping away, but they sure do LOVE to look at themselves later when they make the blog!  It's like making the front page of the newspaper for them!  They get so excited to see which pictures of them I have picked out to post!

Sam playing Freeze Tag with 2 little ones!  (Logan, my friend's little boy who I watched over the weekend, and Ella!!)

FASTER!!!!  Must run FASTER!

Freeze!  She got caught by Lexi!

And then Lexi got caught by Uncle John!!

Another game!  So many boys with so much to say!!

Coach Brian.  He's great with the kids and demonstrates an obscene amount of patience!!

Ty with the ball, Braeden, and James... having a good time with warm-up!

Braeden is the catcher!

And he has pretty good form for a little guy!  He even stops a lot of the wild balls that are coming!

He's so serious and swings so hard... I'd hate to be the ball when he's up to bat!!  :o)

Yet more running around and playing while the game is going!  Lexi was such a great helper and a good sport this day while Ryan and Ella were dragging her around, jumping on her, attacking her... etc!!

I love this picture!  I'm so glad he LOVES the game!  He's a great player and is totally self-motivated!

Soccer practice in the warm spring sun!  The spring season of soccer is co-ed, which is good and bad.  Sometimes the boys are rude, but it means that the girls, particularly Lexi, have to work that much harder.  They get some good experience with learning to be aggressive in the spring!

Juggling... sort of!

No pain... no gain.  Lexi took some serious hits by both people and ball in the first game, but she played 3 quarters very hard and has committed to trying harder not to back down from the boys next time!  We also have the same coach as last season.  Coach Kristin is tough, but Lexi wanted her!

Chilly early morning game!

Lexi and Kelsey with the first kickoff!

Tired girl.  She ran her tail off... up and down the field so many times!

Braeden showing off his skills during half-time!  He's amazing...

Go Soccer SHARKS!!!!!

I'm posting this to show that there is some SERIOUS attitude here.  It's something she's WORKING ON!  We have a new strategy for that, and hopefully it will work!!  Wish her luck!

GAME ON!!  We have many more games to come!  Hopefully Lexi's team can win a few this season.  Hopefully Braeden can hit it as hard as he wants to and actually take some bases when they really start playing.  And hopefully Ella will love dance enough to keep going!  It's good for her to be there with others her age interacting with them to accomplish something fun!
And... hopefully I can stay sane the entire spring season full of work and fun and RUNNING AROUND!